Adventures in Cyber-Stalking

Erin Morris Miller, PhD

(This blog was previously published in the discontinued blog thegiftedscholar.com)

There are many possible motivations for deciding to study high-ability children. Some people come into the field as a result of having children who needed the additional services that gifted education provides, some participated in those services themselves, others were classroom teachers who developed an affinity for these students. Sometimes it is for several of these reasons. Personally, my high school best friend was highly gifted and developed schizophrenia during our senior year leading me to major in psychology (pre-med). And although I did not go on to become a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, I did go on to study exceptional children.

Erin Marie Morris, Seventh Grader. I hot-rolled my hair every morning.

I participated in programming for gifted students during my K-12 education in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Although there was no homogenous grouping in elementary school, for reasons unknown to me, it was decided that for the sixth-grade class of 1988 all the GT identified students would be grouped in a single class that did not change teachers for different subjects. The upshot of this is that I know which students in my graduating class (who attended the same middle school as I) were identified as gifted. GT identification was by teacher nomination followed by an individual IQ test (likely the WISC-R). I thought it would be fun to find out what everyone was up to in our “middle age” as we are now 48-50 years old. The “gifted adult” group consisted of twelve adults (4 males, 8 females) and the comparison group was the 64 remaining members of my sixth-grade class (34 males, 30 females).

I am quite the persistent cyber-sleuth, so I was able to find out a great deal about my former classmates using what information is readily available on the web. Most of the information came from Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Some came from public legal documents. This is NOT the type of research that one can use to draw conclusions, as this is too limited a sample. But I found it interesting nonetheless, and I hope you do too!

Ten of the twelve (84%) individuals in the identified gifted group completed BS/BA degree and three completed graduate school; two with doctorates and one with a Masters. Four (40%) of these individuals who attended college went to colleges outside of Virginia. Seventeen (27%) members of the comparison group completed a four-year college and an additional six (9%) completed a community college program. One individual attended college outside of Virginia. The remaining 39 individuals (59%) did not continue their education after receiving a high school diploma. Four members of the comparison group enlisted in the military after high school and one of these individuals completed college after their enlistment.

I matched everyone’s careers to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Codes. The identified gifted group tended towards Management (33%) and Business and Financial Operations (25%) careers. Management careers include positions such as executive and operations heads. Business and Financial Operations careers include positions such as marketing analysts and accountants. Other areas included: Life, Physical, and Social Science; Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media; Healthcare Practitioners and Technical; Personal Care and Service; and Food Preparation and Serving Related. One of the two members of the identified gifted group who did not attend college works in a family carpentry business. The other member works in a restaurant. Forty-two percent of the identified gifted group currently lives outside of Virginia.

The comparison group, being larger, had a more diverse range of careers in adulthood. Career data was available for 53 of the 64 members of the comparison group. Six (11%) of this group work in Management or Business and Financial Operations. All six of these individuals also completed a four-year college degree. Eleven percent of this group work in Protective Service (such as law enforcement) and another 11% work in Sales Related professions. Three members of this group are career military. Other common areas of career choice were Office and Administrative Support (8%) and Production (8%) related jobs. Production involves work in manufacturing. Six percent of the comparison group lives outside of Virginia.

Ten (83%) of the identified gifted individuals are currently married. The remaining two have never married. The identified gifted participants have an average of 1.6 children. Sixty-one percent of the comparison group is currently married with the remaining 39% divorced or single. The comparison group members who have procreated also have an average of 1.6 children. 

A portion of my 1.6 children

The majority (83%) of the members of this group of adults who were previously identified as gifted went to college and several (25%) continued their education into graduate training.  This is certainly above the current average of 36% of students completing a BS/BA and 15% having some graduate education in Virginia. It is also a greater educational attainment than the comparison group. Although no member would be considered eminent, they are relatively accomplished. These GenXers reflect what has been observed by Rena Subotnik and Ellen Winner: although many eminent adults were highly intelligent children, most gifted children do not go on to be eminent adults.